


Individuality

by Mando-Chicken (Sincognito)



Series: Guns 'n Golden Dust | Star Wars Daemon AU [1]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Brotherly Love, Cody is a good big bro, Crossover, Kaminoans being dicks, Pre-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rex is sad, Unethical Experimentation, introductory fic, mentions of daemon separation, unsettled daemons, young cody - Freeform, young rex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23078047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sincognito/pseuds/Mando-Chicken
Summary: In a universe much like the one you are familiar with, souls are able to manifest into a physical form outside of the body, taking on the forms of animals and walking beside their counterparts. We call these creatures daemons, a representation of each person's truest form.Rex has always been different from his brothers in little ways and every now and then his insecurities catch up with him. This time, however, he meets a new brother by the name of Cody and his kind daemon, and for once he may finally have found a friend he can rely on.A Star Wars Daemon AU (based on concepts from His Dark Materials). Knowledge of the His Dark Materials universe is not required to read - all key concepts borrowed from the universe will be explained.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Guns 'n Golden Dust | Star Wars Daemon AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658611
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	Individuality

When the Kaminoans first began producing clones they were most irritated by the small daemons that would always form beside each individual within moments of them being removed from their growth tanks. Originally they had hoped that because their creation was far from natural they would simply be born lacking them – much like many other sentient creatures across the galaxy that did not naturally have an Other – but apparently the universe had other ideas. 

They had tried many times with the first few batches to try and remove the small creatures from their counterparts, but technology regarding daemons was a very niche field and not much was known about the side-effects of trying to sever the bond between man (or clone) and daemon. It seemed that when they tried to perform early separation trials it almost always ended in assets that lacked the determination and creative spark that their source material possessed, withdrawn and unfocused on the world around them. 

Eventually, they decided that removing the daemons from their other half was simply more trouble than it was worth – it was irritating that they would have to deal with the creatures, but a passive army was simply not acceptable – and the research on daemon separation was placed on the backburner until they could find a more effective method. Of course, any defective clones produced were prime material for furthering their experiments, so it was sustainable to continue production and research both, pleasing their client most greatly. 

They never truly paid much attention to what the clones did with their daemons and decided it wasn’t important to teach them anything about common daemon etiquette – it wouldn’t be useful on the battlefield, they just needed to know how to kill an opponent’s daemon if the chance presented itself – and so they were largely left to discover for themselves the proper ways of interacting with their daemons. 

All of them seemed to be quick to learn that it was rather uncomfortable to grab at another clone’s daemon and vice versa, but they also learned that if they were gentle, then it wasn’t at all unpleasant to have another brother gently caress the Other of a trusted friend. Their trainers never saw the close, intimate bonding between daemons and those other than their counterpart, and the Kaminoans didn’t care enough about their interactions to be bothered by the behaviour considered taboo in most other cultures. It was because of this that batches of clones could often be found curled up together, their daemons snuggled into the sprawling mess of limbs, unconcerned with the possibility of nudging someone other than their respective partner. 

It was brought up briefly in a few of their classes that they weren’t to physically try to grab an opponent’s daemon during a fight, and that it was frowned on to speak too much to someone else’s daemon, but that was the extent of their knowledge. It confused them greatly that it was not socially acceptable to speak to a trainer or superior officer’s Other, as it felt like they were ignoring half of a conversation’s participants, but none of them sought to challenge the notion. 

While they were young the clones could allow their daemons to take whatever form they desired, but as soon as they could comprehend orders it was drilled into them that all of their daemons were to take the same form, regardless of whether they felt another form was more fitting to them. They were supposed to be an identical army and that included their Others. For most it wasn’t much of an issue – they loved their other halves regardless of the form they were forced to take – and with their accelerated growth it seemed that while the clones’ bodies grew, their daemons still didn’t begin to feel the need to try and settle until they reached twelve or thirteen years of age, despite physically being adults. 

However, despite being largely cut off from the rest of the universe, there was still something that even clones found unsettling about daemons who shared their Other’s sex. Clones were supposed to have female daemons and for one to deviate was surely an early sign of some sort of defect, especially given how rare an occurrence it was. 

For Rex, a clone who very clearly was different from the rest of his brothers with his blond hair, having a male daemon was absolutely terrifying. He had heard so many stories about brothers with mutations, defects, being sent down to the labs and often never coming back. He’d even seen some of the clones who didn’t even have daemons anymore and the sight of it alone had caused Naruul to bristle and practically shove the cadet away from the daemonless man, all sorts of feelings of wrong radiating from him. 

Most nights Rex struggled to sleep, his gut twinging nervously as he ran through everything he’d done that day, picking everything apart. He had to make sure he was one of the best – any less and the Kaminoans would likely no longer tolerate his individuality – and the thought of possibly having his daemon taken away? It scared him more than anything the trainers could throw at him. 

On his especially difficult days, when the effort of working above and beyond what was expected had worn him down, painful thoughts swarmed his mind. He loved Naruul, it was impossible not to love his own daemon, but on those days he often found himself wishing he would change. Why did they have to be different? Why couldn’t they just be the same as everyone else? He could tell that the thoughts hurt his poor daemon – he was essentially rejecting part of himself – and he could feel the painful, mixed emotions writhing through their bond and eventually coming to settle as guilt deep within his chest. It wasn’t Naruul’s fault they were different. 

It was on one of these bad days, when Rex had taken to hiding in one of the disused supply closets, that he met Cody for the first time. He’d been trying his best to stay out of sight, muffling the weak sobs that escaped him by burying his face into the soft fur of his daemon, muttering an occasional apology to the large dog. He tried to keep them both quiet, but was failed at it miserably, for it was only a few moments before the door to the closet was cautiously pried open. 

Immediately the young cadet began hurriedly wiping his face, praying that his eyes weren’t still red and watery as Naruul moved to put himself between his boy and whoever had discovered them. Neither were quite sure whether to be more worried or relieved when the concerned face of a fellow cadet and their canine daemon poked in through the small opening. 

“Are you okay?” the other boy asked, his daemon already nudging her way through the door to join Rex and Naruul. He seemed to be a little older judging by his height and slightly more matured features, but his voice was still that soft, quiet voice of someone with still much growing yet to do. 

“Yes.” Rex hated how his hoarse his voice was, frowning slightly at just how unconvincing he sounded. 

The other clone’s worried expression only deepened, his eyebrows scrunching up slightly, “No you’re not,” he frowned, taking only a brief moment to check the coast was clear before slipping inside the closet and closing the door behind him, “what’s wrong?”

Naruul relaxed slightly, but still kept his body firmly between Rex and the other boy. If the boy decided to tease them it certainly wouldn’t be the first time it had happened and the dog was quite prepared to snap at the other daemon if needed. One of the few advantages of being a male daemon was that even though he was younger, he was still larger than most daemons as much as several months older than him. 

Apparently realising that there was no way he’d get the younger clone to open up about what was bothering him just yet, the cadet continued, “I’m CC twenty two twenty four, and this is Jhanera,” he said quietly, gesturing to the daemon at his side, “But everyone just calls me Cody, what about you?”

Rex hesitated for a moment, glancing briefly at Naruul for any signs he distrusted the other. “CT Seventy five sixty seven, and this is Naruul. My batchers call me Rex though.” Much to his surprise, neither Cody nor Jhanera seemed to be off-put by the male daemon, instead grinning at the two of them. He grew tense when the other daemon approached Naruul, but quickly relaxed when she simply gave him a sniff, her tail batting from side to side and creating a soft thumping sound against the side of the supply closet. 

“Good to meet you Rex, and you too Naruul,” Cody hummed, holding out a hand for said daemon to sniff, but otherwise didn’t try to encroach on their personal space. “We haven’t met a vod with a male daemon before,” he mused thoughtfully, lacking the undertone of disgust or fear that most usually had when addressing the subject. 

“Vod? What’s that mean?” It was without doubt an obvious way to change the subject, but it was also a genuine question and it caused Cody to pause briefly. 

“Oh! It means brother in Mando’a,” he explained, grinning broadly, “Some of the trainers have been teaching us how to speak it.” It made sense really, Cody’s number began with the abbreviation ‘CC’ for Clone Commander, and cadets who had been selected to be commanders underwent a different training regime, often with Mandalorian teachers. 

Rex repeated the word to himself, testing how it felt on his tongue. It felt special, to know a word that not everyone could understand, and perhaps he could teach it to the rest of his batchers so they could use it with one another, away from Kaminoan ears. “Do you know any other words?” he asked softly, worried that he would irritate the older cadet with his questions – the trainers and Kaminoans didn’t appreciate it when a clone asked too many questions – but he was relieved to see the other child’s smile only widen. 

“We don’t know too much just yet, they’ve only taught us a few words, but I know that ori’vod is what you call your older brothers and vod’ika is what you call younger brothers,” he rambled, “so I guess that makes you my vod’ika! I can call you that, right?” He continued when Rex nodded an affirmative, “And the trainers sometimes call us verd’ika, which I think means little warrior or little soldier?”

Rex had begun to ease up, his mind slowly forgetting what exactly had upset him in the first place, quickly being taken over by the eager need to learn. He’d once heard the Kaminoans say that they were ‘designed’ to be fast learners, and Rex had to agree with the statement, finding himself already soaking up the new words and adding them to his ever growing vocabulary. “What about our daemons? What do we call them?”

Cody paused in his babbling for a long moment, glancing at Jhanera as he tried to recall the word, “Runi. I think that’s the word, or at least that’s what the trainers refer to our daemons as, they don’t usually speak to our daemons by name.” 

With the short lull in conversation Naruul had finally relaxed himself completely, laying down parallel to Jhanera with his head rested gently on Cody’s boot while his tail was tucked in beside Rex. It was rare for the daemon to show such trust to another so quickly, but after an exhausting day and the emotional toll that had come afterwards, he was just content to have another person nearby to watch over his boy while he rested for a little while. 

Jhanera seemed to take his actions as an invitation to approach and clambered to her feet, giddily bouncing her way over to the other daemon only to flop down at his side, her own head rested between the other canine’s shoulder blades. When he turned to regard her, her tail began to thump happily, looking down at him with eyes that held no contempt, only a warmth that the daemon was unfamiliar with. 

Part of him was scared of the strangeness of it all, but another part, the part that longed for company and companionship was absolutely thrilled with this development. They finally had someone they could refer to as an actual friend – someone for Rex to talk to when his insecurities became too much for boy and daemon to handle, and someone for Naruul to finally be able to interact with daemon-to-daemon – it was a new and uncertain feeling, but one that was very much welcome. 

“We should probably go now, the rest of our group will probably miss us at dinner,” Cody finally said, using the wall he rested against to push off from the floor. Jhanera too happily scrabbled up into a standing position before looking towards Rex to address him, “you want to sit with us, vod’ika?” 

“You want us to sit with you guys?” Rex could only stare somewhat in disbelief, glancing up at Cody for confirmation of his daemon’s words, “what about the rest of your batchers, will they want us there?” 

Cody simply waved them off, “Of course they will, c’mon vod!”

Naruul looked over to Rex, blinking at him a few times in surprise, and the cadet couldn’t help laughing to himself. The evening had started out in tatters, but perhaps Cody and his Other could help to patch it up. He finally lifted himself from the floor, giving his daemon a reassuring pet on the top of his head, before following Cody and Jhanera out towards the mess hall. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! For more SW Daemon content feel free to follow my tumblr (Mando-Chicken) or my Twitter (SymbiosisQueen). This fic will be part of a collection of stories based in this AU and will largely focus on the Clone Wars era (with possibly some Rebels content once I catch up with it).


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